Zomato's founder Deepinder Goyal has defended himself from criticism regarding Temple, a fitness device powered by artificial intelligence, pointing out that it is being developed for global markets and is not primarily aimed at India.
In a post on X,Goyal responded to issues surrounding Temple's pricing, medical claims, scientific validation, and general vision. He indicated that the company's sales estimate for India accounts for no more than 1% of revenue from Temple and urged customers to judge the product on its own merits rather than support it out of patriotism.
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“Temple is not made for India. It's made for the world”, Goyal wrote, advising customers to check the pricing of Temple and underlying factors before reasoning about the product.
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Hello everyone. Happy Diwali! Thank you for your criticism, your support and your time over the last two days. Gives me much needed clarity on what we need to explain better: 1. Temple is not made for India. It's made for the world. Please check pricing. We don't expect any more than 1% of Temples being sold in India. 2. If you are upset that the pricing is too high, I am sorry. There's a lot of work that went into Temple, and we priced it at what we think it's worth. If you think its overpriced, you can wait for user reviews to decide if its worth your money. 3. Please do not support us because we are an Indian startup. We want to compete globally. We don't need/want nationalist support. Support us if you want to support early innovation, which could help you live a better life, and will continue to add more proof to its science over the years. 4. There are different audiences which buy products at various levels of proof. Proof goes from whitepaper -> pre-print -> peer reviewed. You are free to sit on the fence until peer reviewed proof arrives. You are free to not believe it even then. Nobody is forcing you to buy. Making announcements is our right; and if we overclaim anywhere, we will inevitably fall into regulatory trouble everywhere in the world. 5. We didn't make any medical claim. Doctors primarily see things from a medical lens, so they see every claim as a medical claim. I repeat – Temple is strictly a fitness + AI device, and we've made no medical claims. Temple is not proven to diagnose or prevent any disease. It doesn't do anything which replaces the need for you to see a doctor. 6. The main point of Temple is NOT Brain Flow. That's what we just started Temple for, and studies on Brain Flow are the first ones getting out. 7. The main point of Temple is Entropy (I shared the HomeScreen of Temple three months ago with Entropy as the main thing). Our emails to our waitlisted users only talk about Entropy. We haven't published anything on Entropy yet. We will. If you want to buy Temple before that, please do. If you don't want to, don't. 8. Roomdeaf AI is an expansion of the device's capabilities, and our vision for Temple. It is not a pivot. 9. Social media is not the regulator for Temple. Wherever we need regulatory clearances, we will have them before we make any claim needing them. 10. I will post a detailed note on how we calculate Brain Flow, its uses, and most importantly, its limitations in a bit (tomorrow).
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) November 8, 2026
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In response to the complaints from customers that Temple is expensive, Goyal said that the price was determined based on the efforts taken to develop the product itself.
Goyal was equally clear that he wanted Temple to be without support from nationalist grounds. What he said was that the company wanted to compete globally for customers interested in early-stage innovation capable of changing their lives.
A significant portion of Goyal's post dealt with the scientific evidence supporting Temple's capabilities. Different people had different acceptance levels for technology, where scientific validation operated on a sliding scale, with white papers turning into preprints and eventually into peer-reviewed research.
He maintained that potential buyers could either wait for peer-reviewed evidence or simply believe that they will choose not to believe the claims made even after that stage.
Goyal also sought to differentiate Temple from medical devices by saying its product was a fitness and artificial intelligence device. He stated that it was not proven to diagnose or prevent diseases and did not intend to replace medical consultations.
"Temple is not proven to diagnose or prevent any disease. We never made any medical claims," he wrote.
Goyal went on to address what he referred to as a misinterpretation regarding what Temple wants to convey. He stated that the Brain Flow should not be seen as the main focus of the device but rather the first area of study for which research is starting to come out.
He explained that the broader vision is based on a concept referred to as Entropy, which he had already shared about through a screenshot on Temple's home page around three months ago. According to Goyal, the company has kept its communication with its potential clients on the waiting list more targeted at entropy since there has been no information coming from the side of the research about the respective subject.
He promised to give out in the near future a detailed discussion about how Brain Flow is calculated, what its applications can be, and what its limitations are.
Goyal also rejected the idea of Roomdeaf AI being a change in the path of the company but instead argued that it is merely an enlargement of Temple's capabilities as part of the company's original vision.
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In a different post on X, Goyal spoke out against rumors concerning online promotion of Temple and some of his other enterprises like Zomato and Eternal.
Goyal said that he never asked anybody to make any posts for him in exchange for payment or in any other way. According to Goyal, he creates his own posts and prefers to build reputation without involving any agencies in the storytelling.
Of course, he admits that employees can be asked to repost the message, but according to him, that is a matter of choice and nobody gets punished for choosing not to repost it.
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